The chronicles of the schooner Free Spirit and her crew, embarking on an open ended journey upon the great rolling heap. Free Spirit is currently pursuing humanitarian and commercial goals in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola. Working under the Ocean Reach USA and Paradigm Research banners, she is serving as logistics headquarters, workshop, and development laboratory for many ongoing projects.
This is the log of her journey.....

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The secret life of redwoods

This was our campsite at the Jedediah Smith State Park. The campground was beautiful, along a river, and full of redwood energy. It was amazing to the kids and I to find out that, first of all the redwood pine cones are tiny compared tot he trees, and that less than one in a million seeds will make it to maturity.

The view down from the restrooms to our campsite,check out Blayde's size for comparison...

Here in the JSSP, we are camped among the redwoods. These majestic trees have borne witness to thousands of years and countless generations of humanity. Some of these trees are over two thousand years old, nearly half the age of their relatives, the giant sequoias. Call me a new age nutcase, but I swear you can feel the energy of these trees. Standing inside one of the hollow ones (sometimes the core will rot out, while the rest of the tree remains strong) you can feel the “energy” of the tree. I cannot explain it, but it is true nonetheless.

Each tree is a veritable city unto itself, teeming with wildlife, a squirrel skyscraper. Indeed, a felled one could build an entire (tiny) town with the lumber produced! Words Fail me to characterize the experience of walking through a redwood forest, so I would encourage each and every one of you who has not been here to make a pilgrimage to see these ancient giants.

Tamer and I had an amazing "Date Night", here in the midst of this amazing forest. We snuggled inside of a redwood (along with tons of EWWWWWWWW, spiders), and saw the brightest, biggest most beautiful full moon ever. We debated whether or not it really was a rare and amazing sight or if us Alaskans never have the opportunity to see such a majestic moon. At any rate, the campfire conversation was a welcome break from the chaos that we had been a part of!!

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Introducing Propcalc 4.0

Use Propcalc to easily match your hull with your engine, transmission, and propeller
Put the known data in the top fields, then hit the Update button to get the answers.
Results, of course, should be verified by a Naval Architect or qualified surveyor.
Data is provided for three bladed propellers of average type
For two or four bladed props, use the modifiers shown below.

Key information:

If the "hp required" is greater than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too low for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is significantly less than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too high for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is greater than the "Max HP", then your target speed is too high for your engine/hull parameters.
The S/L ratio is calculated automaticaly based on your input. It can be adjusted if necessary, but normally it should be left alone.
If the calculated S/L ratio exceeds S/L MAX, then the results are likely to be non-predictive. Try a lower speed requirement.
SL Ratios of 1.1 - 1.4 are typical of displacement hulls. Semiplaning or planing hulls can go higher.

Note:

it is possible to get irrational answers by irrational input , I.E specifying excessive speed for hull type and length
Any attempt to exceed hull speed (1.34 times the square root of the waterline length in feet) with a displacement hull are likely
to fail unless the hull is extremely fine (multihull) or otherwise exceptional. In such cases, an S/L adjustment would be in order.

2 and 4 bladed props:

For two bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by 1.05, and the pitch by 1.01
For four bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by .94, and the pitch by .98

PROPCALC

Inputs:

Vessel LWL (ft) =

Vessel Disp (lbs) =

(max) HP=

Engine RPM max =

Engine RPM cruise =

(Cruise or Max) Kts =

Slip =

Gear ratio = 1:

SL Ratio Adj. =

Solutions:

Prop rpm max =

Prop rpm cruise =

Pitch =

Diameter =

Static Thrust =

Cruise HP =

Cruise HP% =

SL Ratio =

DL Ratio =

SL Max =

HP Required =

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